OROVILLE &GT;&GT; The Yankee Hill man charged with killing his roommate in January 2012 took the stand in his own defense Friday.

The testimony and an earlier interview of defendant John Lawrence Halsema, 67, were the focus of the second day of testimony in Butte County Superior Court.

Both sides rested their cases Friday and closing arguments are expected Monday.

This is the second trial for Halsema for the shooting death of Craig Steven Davies on or about Jan. 30, 2012.

A previous jury convicted the defendant of second-degree murder, but the 3rd District Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in January. Based on the evidence, appeals court judges ruled the jury should have been instructed to consider whether Halsema committed the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter.

Victim threatened dog

Seated at the witness stand while wearing a hearing aid, Halsema recounted what happened in Davies' Nelson Bar Road residence. His testimony was similar to what he said during his first trial.

Halsema said the shooting was his fault, but it was an accident. He denied telling a mutual friend of Davies and himself that he meant to shoot his roommate.

"It was a horrible accident that took my friend's life and my dog's and landed me in prison," Halsema said. "You would have to be a fool to plan something like this."

Under questioning by defense attorney Robert Radcliffe, Halsema said he had gone to confront Davies after discovering that Davies had left Halema's handgun in an unsafe condition near Halsema's bed after borrowing it. The gun had been loaded with the safety off and the hammer pulled back.

Davies was in the dining room. Halsema said the encounter started as a discussion that went into an argument before Davies went into a rage. Halsema said the man's behavior changed due to methamphetamine use.

The defendant acknowledged he was convicted of manufacturing meth because he helped purchase cold medicine for Davies and invented a machine to remove a key ingredient from matchbooks.

At one point during the confrontation, Halsema said Davies said he was either going to get to Halsema or Halsema's dog. Davies reached for Halsema's shirt lapels and the dog got him to back off.

Davies then picked up a knife from the kitchen table and began swinging it down near the dog. Halsema said he became worried for his dog when the shooting happened. He said he had forgotten the gun was in his hand and what happened was an uncontrolled reaction.

"I don't remember how it happened, I just know I caused the accident," Halsema said.

During chief deputy district attorney Francisco Zarate's cross-examination, the defendant said the gun firing wasn't something he wanted to do, but acknowledged his finger was on the trigger at some point.

Halsema said Davies grabbed his chest and fell to the ground. The defendant rushed to him, but Davies was dead.

The defendant said he picked up the knife and put it back in Davies' hand, but he didn't know why. He later covered Davies' body with a blanket.

Halsema said he waited 10 days to call police about the shooting because he wanted to find someone to hold on to his dog, but he called after his attempts were unsuccessful. He said the shooting was an accident, but it would take some time to straighten out.

Horsing around

Zarate confronted Halsema about what the defendant first told officers responding to the scene on Feb. 8, 2012. Halsema said he didn't recall telling Butte County sheriff's deputy Dave Ennes that the shooting was a result of horseplay.

The defendant said Friday he and Davies always horsed around and Davies had knocked a partly empty glass of Gatorade from Halsema's hand on the morning of the shooting. He also asserted that people have misinterpreted what he first told investigators.

After Halsema's testimony, Ennes took the stand and read aloud from a transcript of his first encounter with the defendant.

According to the deputy, Halsema said he took the gun to Davies to show it was in an unsafe condition. The defendant had the gun in one hand and a glass of Gatorade in the other.

Both men called each other a know-it-all before Davies slapped the glass from Halsema's hand.

Halsema said he tried to kick Davies' buttocks, but fell to the ground and the gun went off.

Ennes said the defendant did not say that Davies went into a rage, tried to stab a dog or grabbed Halsema's lapels.

Sheriff's detective Philip Wysocki also said that Halsema didn't tell him that Davies grabbed Halsema's lapels or went into a rage.

The jury had earlier watched a video of Wysocki's Feb. 8, 2012, interview with Halsema. The defendant had told investigators that he was willing to use deadly force to protect his dog. He said Davies had been acting crazy, moving around with a knife. The gun went off when Halsema stepped back from Davies, who had been about 10 to 15 feet away.

The defendant had said he wasn't acting in self-defense and he wasn't afraid of Davies.